Seneca the Younger

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Lucius Annaeus Seneca
Duble herma of Socrates and Seneca Antikensammlung Berlin 07.jpg
Ancient bust of Seneca, part of the Double Herm of Socrates and Seneca
(Antikensammlung Berlin)
Born c. 4 BC
Cordoba, Hispania
Died AD 65 (aged 68�69)
Rome
Nationality Roman
Other names Seneca the Younger, Seneca
Notable work
Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium
Era Ancient philosophy
Region Western philosophy
School Stoicism
Main interests
Ethics
Influences[show]
Influenced[show]
Seneca the Younger (c. 4 BC � AD 65),[1] fully Lucius Annaeus Seneca and also known
simply as Seneca (/'s?n?k?/), was a Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, dramatist,
and�in one work�satirist of the Silver Age of Latin literature.

Seneca was born in Corduba in Hispania, and raised in Rome, where he was trained in
rhetoric and philosophy. His father was Seneca the Elder, his elder brother was
Lucius Junius Gallio Annaeanus, and his nephew was the poet Lucan. In AD 41, Seneca
was exiled to the island of Corsica by the emperor Claudius, but was allowed to
return in 49 to become a tutor to Nero. When Nero became emperor in 54, Seneca
became his advisor and, together with the praetorian prefect Sextus Afranius
Burrus, provided competent government for the first five years of Nero's reign.
Seneca's influence over Nero declined with time, and in 65 Seneca was forced to
take his own life for alleged complicity in the Pisonian conspiracy to assassinate
Nero, in which he was likely to have been innocent.[2][3] His stoic and calm
suicide has become the subject of numerous paintings.

As a writer Seneca is known for his philosophical works, and for his plays, which
are all tragedies. His prose works include a dozen essays and one hundred twenty-
four letters dealing with moral issues. These writings constitute one of the most
important bodies of primary material for ancient Stoicism. As a tragedian, he is
best known for plays such as his Medea, Thyestes, and Phaedra. Seneca's influence
on later generations is immense�during the Renaissance he was "a sage admired and
venerated as an oracle of moral, even of Christian edification; a master of
literary style and a model [for] dramatic art."[4]

Part of a series on
Stoicism

Epictetus, Seneca, and Marcus Aurelius

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Contents
1 Life
1.1 Early life, family and adulthood
1.2 Politics and exile
1.3 Imperial advisor
1.4 Retirement
1.5 Death
2 Philosophy
3 Drama
4 Works
4.1 Seneca's tragedies
4.2 Essays and letters
4.2.1 Essays
4.2.2 Other essays
4.2.3 Letters
4.2.4 Other
4.2.5 Spurious
4.3 "Pseudo-Seneca"
5 Legacy
5.1 As a proto-Christian saint
5.2 An improving reputation
5.3 Notable fictional portrayals
6 See also
7 Notes
8 References
9 Further reading
10 External links
Life
Early life, family and adulthood
Seneca was born in Corduba in the Roman province of Baetica in Hispania.[5] His
father was Lucius Annaeus Seneca the elder, a Spanish-born Roman knight who had
gained fame as a writer and teacher of rhetoric in Rome.[6] Seneca's mother,
Helvia, was from a prominent Baetician family.[7] Seneca was the second of three
brothers; the others were Lucius Annaeus Novatus (later known as Junius Gallio),
and Annaeus Mela, the father of the poet Lucan.[8] Miriam Griffin says in her
biography of Seneca that "the evidence for Seneca's life before his exile in 41 is
so slight, and the potential interest of these years, for social history as well as
for biography, is so great that few writers on Seneca have resisted the temptation
to eke out knowledge with imagination."[9] Griffin also infers from the ancient
sources that Seneca was born in either 8, 4, or 1 BC. She thinks he was born
between 4 and 1 BC and was resident in Rome by AD 5.[9]

Modern statue of Seneca in C�rdoba

Seneca tells us that he was taken to Rome in the "arms" of his aunt (his mother's
stepsister) at a young age, probably when he was about five years old.[10] His
father resided for much of his life in the city.[11] Seneca was taught the usual
subjects of literature, grammar, and rhetoric, as part of the standard education of
high-born Romans.[12] While still young he received philosophical training from
Attalus the Stoic, and from Sotion and Papirius Fabianus, both of whom belonged to
the short-lived School of the Sextii, which combined Stoicism with Pythagoreanism.
[8] Sotion persuaded Seneca when he was a young man (in his early twenties) to
become a vegetarian, which he practised for around a year before his father urged
him to desist because the practice was associated with "some foreign rites".[13]
Seneca often had breathing difficulties throughout his life, probably asthma,[14]
and at some point in his mid-twenties (c. 20 AD) he appears to have been struck
down with tuberculosis.[15] He was sent to Egypt to live with his aunt (the same
aunt who had brought him to Rome), whose husband Gaius Galerius had become Prefect
of Egypt.[7] She nursed him through a period of ill-health that lasted up to ten
years.[16] In 31 AD he returned to Rome with his aunt, his uncle dying en route in
a shipwreck.[16] His aunt's influence helped Seneca be elected quaestor (probably
after 37 AD[12]), which also earned him the right to sit in the Roman Senate.[16]

Politics and exile

Seneca's early career as a senator seems to have been successful and he was praised
for his oratory.[17] Cassius Dio relates a story that Caligula was so offended by
Seneca's oratorical success in the Senate that he ordered him to commit suicide.
[17] Seneca only survived because he was seriously ill and Caligula was told that
he would soon die anyway.[17] In his writings Seneca has nothing good to say about
Caligula and frequently depicts him as a monster.[18] Seneca explains his own
survival as down to his patience and his devotion to his friends: "I wanted to
avoid the impression that all I could do for loyalty was die."[19]

In 41 AD, Claudius became emperor, and Seneca was accused by the new empress
Messalina of adultery with Julia Livilla, sister to Caligula and Agrippina.[20] The
affair has been doubted by some historians, since Messalina had clear political
motives for getting rid of Julia Livilla and her supporters.[11][21] The Senate
pronounced a death sentence on Seneca, which Claudius commuted to exile, and Seneca
spent the next eight years on the island of Corsica.[22] Two of Seneca's earliest
surviving works date from the period of his exile�both consolations.[20] In his
Consolation to Helvia, his mother, Seneca comforts her as a bereaved mother for
losing her son to exile.[22] Seneca incidentally mentions the death of his only
son, a few weeks before his exile.[22] Later in life Seneca was married to a woman
younger than himself, Pompeia Paulina.[8] It has been thought that the infant son
may have been from an earlier marriage,[22] but the evidence is "tenuous".[8]
Seneca's other work of this period, his Consolation to Polybius, one of Claudius'
freedmen, focused on consoling Polybius on the death of his brother. It is noted
for its flattery of Claudius, and Seneca expresses his hope that the emperor will
recall him from exile.[22] In 49 AD Agrippina married her uncle Claudius, and
through her influence Seneca was recalled to Rome.[20] Agrippina gained the
praetorship for Seneca and appointed him tutor to her son, the future emperor Nero.
[23]

Imperial advisor

Nero and Seneca, by Eduardo Barr�n (1904). Museo del Prado

From AD 54 to 62, Seneca acted as Nero's advisor, together with the praetorian
prefect Sextus Afranius Burrus. One byproduct of his new position was that Seneca
was appointed suffect consul in 56.[24] Seneca's influence was said to have been
especially strong in the first year.[25] Seneca composed Nero's accession speeches
in which he promised to restore proper legal procedure and authority to the Senate.
[23] He also composed the eulogy for Claudius that Nero delivered at the funeral.
[23] Seneca's satirical skit Apocolocyntosis, which lampoons the deification of
Claudius and praises Nero dates from the earliest period of Nero's reign.[23] In 55
AD, Seneca wrote On Clemency following Nero's murder of Britannicus, perhaps to
assure the citizenry that the murder was the end, not the beginning of bloodshed.
[26] On Clemency is a work which, although it flatters Nero, was intended to show
the correct (Stoic) path of virtue for a ruler.[23] Tacitus and Dio suggest that
Nero's early rule, during which he listened to Seneca and Burrus, was quite
competent. However, the ancient sources suggest that, over time, Seneca and Burrus
lost their influence over the emperor. In 59 they had reluctantly agreed to
Agrippina's murder, and afterward Tacitus reports that Seneca had to write a letter
justifying the murder to the Senate.[26]

In 58 AD the senator Publius Suillius Rufus made a series of public attacks on

Seneca.[27] These attacks, reported by Tacitus and Cassius Dio,[28] included
charges that, in a mere four years of service to Nero, Seneca had acquired a vast
personal fortune of three hundred million sestertii by charging high interest on
loans throughout Italy and the provinces.[29] Suillius' attacks included claims of
sexual corruption, with a suggestion that Seneca had slept with Agrippina.[30]
Tacitus, though, reports that Suillius was highly prejudiced: he had been a
favourite of Claudius,[27] and had been an embezzler and informant.[29] In
response, Seneca brought a series of prosecutions for corruption against Suillius:
half of his estate was confiscated and he was sent into exile.[31] However, the
attacks reflect a criticism of Seneca that was made at the time and continued
through later ages.[27] Seneca was undoubtedly extremely rich: he had properties at
Baiae and Nomentum, an Alban villa, and Egyptian estates.[27] Cassius Dio even
reports that the Boudica uprising in Britannia was caused by Seneca forcing large
loans on the indigenous British aristocracy in the aftermath of Claudius's conquest
of Britain, and then calling them in suddenly and aggressively.[27] Seneca was
sensitive to such accusations: his De Vita Beata ("On the Happy Life") dates from
around this time and includes a defense of wealth along Stoic lines, arguing that
properly gaining and spending wealth is appropriate behaviour for a philosopher.
[29]

Retirement
After Burrus's death in 62, Seneca's influence declined rapidly.[32] Tacitus
reports that Seneca tried to retire twice, in 62 and 64 AD, but Nero refused him on
both occasions.[29] Nevertheless, Seneca was increasingly absent from the court.
[29] He adopted a quiet lifestyle on his country estates, concentrating on his
studies and seldom visiting Rome. It was during these final few years that he
composed two of his greatest works: Naturales quaestiones�an encyclopedia of the
natural world; and his Letters to Lucilius�which document his philosophical
thoughts.[33]

Death

Manuel Dom�nguez S�nchez, The suicide of Seneca (1871), Museo del Prado
In AD 65, Seneca was caught up in the aftermath of the Pisonian conspiracy, a plot
to kill Nero. Although it is unlikely that Seneca was part of the conspiracy, Nero
ordered him to kill himself.[29] Seneca followed tradition by severing several
veins in order to bleed to death, and his wife Pompeia Paulina attempted to share
his fate. Cassius Dio, who wished to emphasize the relentlessness of Nero, focused
on how Seneca had attended to his last-minute letters, and how his death was
hastened by soldiers.[34] A generation after the Julio-Claudian emperors, Tacitus
wrote an account of the suicide, which, in view of his Republican sympathies, is
perhaps somewhat romanticized.[35] According to this account, Nero ordered Seneca's
wife saved. Her wounds were bound up and she made no further attempt to kill
herself. As for Seneca himself, his age and diet were blamed for slow loss of blood
and extended pain rather than a quick death. He also took poison, which was however
not fatal. After dictating his last words to a scribe, and with a circle of friends
attending him in his home, he immersed himself in a warm bath, which he expected
would speed blood flow and ease his pain. Tacitus wrote, "He was then carried into
a bath, with the steam of which he was suffocated, and he was burnt without any of
the usual funeral rites. So he had directed in a codicil of his will, even when in
the height of his wealth and power he was thinking of life's close."[35] This may
give the impression of a favourable portrait of Seneca, but Tacitus' treatment of
him is at best ambivalent. Alongside Seneca's apparent fortitude in the face of
death, for example, one can also view his actions as rather histrionic and
performative; and when Tacitus tells us that he left his family an imago suae uitae
(Annales 15.62), "an image of his life", he is possibly being ambiguous: in Roman
culture, the imago was a kind of mask that commemorated the great ancestors of
noble families, but at the same time, it may also suggest duplicity,
superficiality, and pretence.[36]

Philosophy
First page of the Naturales Quaestiones, made for the Catalan-Aragonese court
As "a major philosophical figure of the Roman Imperial Period",[37] Seneca�s
lasting contribution to philosophy has been to the school of Stoicism. His writing
is highly accessible[38][39] and was the subject of attention from the Renaissance
onwards by writers such as Michel de Montaigne.[40] He has been described as �a
towering and controversial figure of antiquity�[41] and �the world�s most
interesting Stoic�[42].

Seneca wrote a number of books on Stoicism, mostly on ethics, with one work
(Naturales Quaestiones) on the physical world.[43] Seneca built on the writings of
many of the earlier Stoics: he often mentions Zeno, Cleanthes, and Chrysippus;[44]
and frequently cites Posidonius, with whom Seneca shared an interest in natural
phenomena.[45] He frequently quotes Epicurus, especially in his Letters.[46] His
interest in Epicurus is mainly limited to using him as a source of ethical maxims.
[47] Likewise Seneca shows some interest in Platonist metaphysics, but never with
any clear commitment.[48] His moral essays are based on Stoic doctrines,[39]
Stoicism was a popular philosophy in this period, and many upper-class Romans found
in it a guiding ethical framework for political involvement.[43] It was once
popular to regard Seneca as being very eclectic in his Stoicism,[49] but modern
scholarship views him as a fairly orthodox Stoic, albeit a free-minded one.[50]

His works discuss both ethical theory and practical advice, and Seneca stresses
that both parts are distinct but interdependent.[51] His Letters to Lucilius
showcase Seneca's search for ethical perfection[51] and �represent a sort of
philosophical testament for posterity�.[52] Seneca regards philosophy as a balm for
the wounds of life.[53] The destructive passions, especially anger and grief, must
be uprooted,[54] or moderated according to reason.[55] He discusses the relative
merits of the contemplative life and the active life,[53] and he considers it
important to confront one's own mortality and be able to face death.[54][55] One
must be willing to practice poverty and use wealth properly,[56] and he writes
about favours, clemency, the importance of friendship, and the need to benefit
others.[56][53][57] The universe is governed for the best by a rational providence,
[56] and this must be reconciled with acceptance of adversity.[54]

Drama
See also: Senecan tragedy and Theatre of ancient Rome

Woodcut illustration of the suicide of Seneca and the attempted suicide of his wife
Pompeia Paulina
Ten plays are attributed to Seneca, of which most likely eight were written by him.
[58] The plays stand in stark contrast to his philosophical works. With their
intense emotions, and grim overall tone, the plays seem to represent the antithesis
of Seneca's Stoic beliefs.[59] Up to the 16th century it was normal to distinguish
between Seneca the moral philosopher and Seneca the dramatist as two separate
people.[60] Scholars have tried to spot certain Stoic themes: it is the
uncontrolled passions that generate madness, ruination, and self-destruction.[61]
This has a cosmic as well as an ethical aspect, and fate is a powerful, albeit
rather oppressive, force.[61]

Many scholars have thought, following the ideas of the 19th-century German scholar
Friedrich Leo, that Seneca's tragedies were written for recitation only.[58] Other
scholars think that they were written for performance and that it is possible that
actual performance had taken place in Seneca's lifetime.[62] Ultimately, this issue
cannot be resolved on the basis of our existing knowledge.[58] The tragedies of
Seneca have been successfully staged in modern times.

The dating of the tragedies is highly problematic in the absence of any ancient
references.[63] A parody of a lament from Hercules Furens appears in the
Apocolocyntosis, which implies a date before 54 AD for that play.[63] A relative
chronology has been suggested on metrical grounds but scholars remain divided. The
plays are not all based on the Greek pattern; they have a five-act form and differ
in many respects from extant Attic drama, and while the influence of Euripides on
some of these works is considerable, so is the influence of Virgil and Ovid.[63]

Seneca's plays were widely read in medieval and Renaissance European universities
and strongly influenced tragic drama in that time, such as Elizabethan England
(William Shakespeare and other playwrights), France (Corneille and Racine), and the
Netherlands (Joost van den Vondel). English translations of Seneca's tragedies
appeared in print in the mid-16th century, with all ten published collectively in
1581.[64] He is regarded as the source and inspiration for what is known as
"Revenge Tragedy", starting with Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy and continuing
well into the Jacobean era. Thyestes is considered Seneca's masterpiece,[65][66]
and has been described by scholar Dana Gioia as "one of the most influential plays
ever written".[67] Medea is also highly regarded,[68][69] and was praised along
with Phaedra by T. S. Eliot.[67]

Works
Works attributed to Seneca include a dozen philosophical essays, one hundred and
twenty-four letters dealing with moral issues, nine tragedies, and a satire, the
attribution of which is disputed.[70] His authorship of Hercules on Oeta has also
been questioned.

Seneca's tragedies
Fabulae crepidatae (tragedies with Greek subjects):

Hercules or Hercules furens (The Madness of Hercules)

Troades (The Trojan Women)
Phoenissae (The Phoenician Women)
Medea
Phaedra
Oedipus
Agamemnon
Thyestes
Hercules Oetaeus (Hercules on Oeta): generally considered not written by Seneca.
First rejected by Heinsius.
Fabula praetexta (tragedy in Roman setting):

Octavia: almost certainly not written by Seneca (at least in its final form) since
it contains accurate prophecies of both his and Nero�s deaths.[71] This play
closely resembles Seneca's plays in style, but was probably written some time after
Seneca's death (perhaps under Vespasian) by someone influenced by Seneca and aware
of the events of his lifetime.[72] Though attributed textually to Seneca, the
attribution was early questioned by Petrarch,[73] and rejected by Lipsius.
Essays and letters
Essays
Traditionally given in the following order:

(64) De Providentia (On providence) - addressed to Lucilius

(55) De Constantia Sapientis (On the Firmness of the Wise Person) - addressed to
Serenus
(41) De Ira (On anger) � A study on the consequences and the control of anger -
addressed to his brother Novatus
(book 2 of the De Ira)
(book 3 of the De Ira)
(40) Ad Marciam, De consolatione (To Marcia, On Consolation) � Consoles her on the
death of her son
(58) De Vita Beata (On the Happy Life) - addressed to Gallio
(62) De Otio (On Leisure) - addressed to Serenus
(63) De Tranquillitate Animi (On tranquillity of mind) - addressed to Serenus
(49) De Brevitate Vit� (On the shortness of life) � Essay expounding that any
length of life is sufficient if lived wisely - addressed to Paulinus
(44) De Consolatione ad Polybium (To Polybius, On consolation) � Consoling him on
the death of his brother.
(42) Ad Helviam matrem, De consolatione (To Helvia, On consolation) � Letter to his
mother consoling her on his absence during exile.
Other essays
(56) De Clementia (On Clemency) � written to Nero on the need for clemency as a
virtue in an emperor.[74]
(63) De Beneficiis (On Benefits) [seven books]
(?) De Superstitione (On Superstition) -- lost, but quoted from in Saint
Augustine's City of God 6.10-6.11.
Letters
(64) Epistulae morales ad Lucilium � collection of 124 letters dealing with moral
issues written to Lucilius Junior.
Other
(54) Apocolocyntosis divi Claudii (The Gourdification of the Divine Claudius), a
satirical work.
(63) Naturales quaestiones [seven books] an insight into ancient theories of
cosmology, meteorology, and similar subjects.
Spurious
(58�62/370?) Cujus etiam ad Paulum apostolum leguntur epistolae: These letters,
allegedly between Seneca and St Paul, were revered by early authorities, but modern
scholarship rejects their authenticity.[75][76]
"Pseudo-Seneca"
Various antique and medieval texts purport to be by Seneca, e.g., De remediis
fortuitorum. Their unknown authors are collectively called Pseudo-Seneca.[77] At
least some of these seem to preserve and adapt genuine Senecan content, for
example, Saint Martin of Braga's (d. c. 580) Formula vitae honestae, or De
differentiis quatuor virtutumvitae honestae ("Rules for an Honest Life", or "On the
Four Cardinal Virtues"). Early manuscripts preserve Martin's preface, where he
makes it clear that this was his adaptation, but in later copies this was omitted,
and the work was later thought fully Seneca's work.[78]

Legacy
As a proto-Christian saint

Plato, Seneca, and Aristotle in a medieval manuscript illustration (c. 1325�35)

Seneca's writings were well known in the later Roman period, and Quintilian,
writing thirty years after Seneca's death, remarked on the popularity of his works
amongst the youth.[79] While he found much to admire, Quintillian criticised Seneca
for what he regarded as a degenerate literary style�a criticism echoed by Aulus
Gellius in the middle of the 2nd century.[79]

The early Christian Church was very favorably disposed towards Seneca and his
writings, and the church leader Tertullian possessively referred to him as "our
Seneca".[80] By the 4th century an apocryphal correspondence with Paul the Apostle
had been created linking Seneca into the Christian tradition.[81] The letters are
mentioned by Jerome who also included Seneca among a list of Christian writers, and
Seneca is similarly mentioned by Augustine.[81] In the 6th century Martin of Braga
synthesised Seneca's thought into a couple of treatises that became popular in
their own right.[82] Otherwise, Seneca was mainly known through a large number of
quotes and extracts in the florilegia, which were popular throughout the medieval
period.[82] When his writings were read in the later Middle Ages, it was mostly his
Letters to Lucilius�the longer essays and plays being relatively unknown.[83]

Medieval writers and works continued to link him to Christianity because of his
alleged association with Paul.[84] The Golden Legend, a 13th-century hagiographical
account of famous saints that was widely read, included an account of Seneca's
death scene, and erroneously presented Nero as a witness to Seneca's suicide.[84]
Dante placed Seneca (alongside Cicero) among the "great spirits" in the First
Circle of Hell, or Limbo.[85] Boccaccio, who in 1370 came across the works of
Tacitus whilst browsing the library at Montecassino, wrote an account of Seneca's
suicide hinting that it was a kind of disguised baptism, or a de facto baptism in
spirit.[86] Some, such as Albertino Mussato and Giovanni Colonna, went even further
and concluded that Seneca must have been a Christian convert.[87]

An improving reputation

The "Pseudo-Seneca", a Roman bust found at Herculaneum, one of a series of similar

sculptures known since the Renaissance, once identified as Seneca. Now commonly
identified as Hesiod
Seneca remains one of the few popular Roman philosophers from the period. He
appears not only in Dante, but also in Chaucer and to a large degree in Petrarch,
who adopted his style in his own essays and who quotes him more than any other
authority except Virgil. In the Renaissance, printed editions and translations of
his works became common, including an edition by Erasmus and a commentary by John
Calvin.[88] John of Salisbury, Erasmus and others celebrated his works. French
essayist Montaigne, who gave a spirited defense of Seneca and Plutarch in his
Essays, was himself considered by Pasquier a "French Seneca".[89] Similarly, Thomas
Fuller praised Joseph Hall as "our English Seneca". Many who considered his ideas
not particularly original, still argued that he was important in making the Greek
philosophers presentable and intelligible.[90] His suicide has also been a popular
subject in art, from Jacques-Louis David's 1773 painting The Death of Seneca to the
1951 film Quo Vadis.

Even with the admiration of an earlier group of intellectual stalwarts, Seneca has
never been without his detractors. In his own time, he was accused of hypocrisy or,
at least, a less than "Stoic" lifestyle. While banished to Corsica, he wrote a plea
for restoration rather incompatible with his advocacy of a simple life and the
acceptance of fate. In his Apocolocyntosis he ridiculed the behaviors and policies
of Claudius, and flattered Nero�such as proclaiming that Nero would live longer and
be wiser than the legendary Nestor. The claims of Publius Suillius Rufus that
Seneca acquired some "three hundred million sesterces" through Nero's favor, are
highly partisan, but they reflect the reality that Seneca was both powerful and
wealthy.[91] Robin Campbell, a translator of Seneca's letters, writes that the
"stock criticism of Seneca right down the centuries [has been]...the apparent
contrast between his philosophical teachings and his practice."[91]

In 1562 Gerolamo Cardano wrote an apology praising Nero in his Encomium Neronis,
printed in Basel.[92] This was likely intended as a mock encomium, inverting the
portrayal of Nero and Seneca that appears in Tacitus.[93] In this work Cardano
portrayed Seneca as a crook of the worst kind, an empty rhetorician who was only
thinking to grab money and power, after having poisoned the mind of the young
emperor. Cardano stated that Seneca well deserved death.

"Seneca", ancient hero of the modern C�rdoba; this architectural roundel in Seville
is based on the "Pseudo-Seneca" (illustration above)
Among the historians who have sought to reappraise Seneca is the scholar Anna Lydia
Motto who in 1966 argued that the negative image has been based almost entirely on
Suillius's account, while many others who might have lauded him have been lost.[94]

"We are therefore left with no contemporary record of Seneca's life, save for the
desperate opinion of Publius Suillius. Think of the barren image we should have of
Socrates, had the works of Plato and Xenophon not come down to us and were we
wholly dependent upon Aristophanes' description of this Athenian philosopher. To be
sure, we should have a highly distorted, misconstrued view. Such is the view left
to us of Seneca, if we were to rely upon Suillius alone."[95]

More recent work is changing the dominant perception of Seneca as a mere conduit
for pre-existing ideas showing originality in Seneca's contribution to the history
of ideas. Examination of Seneca's life and thought in relation to contemporary
education and to the psychology of emotions is revealing the relevance of his
thought. For example, Martha Nussbaum in her discussion of desire and emotion
includes Seneca among the Stoics who offered important insights and perspectives on
emotions and their role in our lives.[96] Specifically devoting a chapter to his
treatment of anger and its management, she shows Seneca's appreciation of the
damaging role of uncontrolled anger, and its pathological connections. Nussbaum
later extended her examination to Seneca's contribution to political philosophy[97]
showing considerable subtlety and richness in his thoughts about politics,
education, and notions of global citizenship�and finding a basis for reform-minded
education in Seneca's ideas she used to propose a mode of modern education that
avoids both narrow traditionalism and total rejection of tradition. Elsewhere
Seneca has been noted as the first great Western thinker on the complex nature and
role of gratitude in human relationships.[98]

Notable fictional portrayals

Baroque marble imaginary portrait bust of Seneca, by an anonymous sculptor of the

17th century. Museo del Prado
Seneca is a character in Monteverdi's 1642 opera L'incoronazione di Poppea (The
Coronation of Poppea), which is based on the pseudo-Senecan play, Octavia.[99] In
Nathaniel Lee's 1675 play Nero, Emperor of Rome, Seneca attempts to dissuade Nero
from his egomaniacal plans, but is dragged off to prison, dying off-stage.[100] He
appears in Robert Bridges' verse drama Nero, the second part of which (published
1894) culminates in Seneca's death.[101] Seneca appears in a fairly minor role in
Henryk Sienkiewicz's 1896 novel Quo Vadis and was played by Nicholas Hannen in the
1951 film.[102] In Robert Graves' 1934 book Claudius the God, the sequel novel to
I, Claudius, Seneca is portrayed as an unbearable sycophant.[103] He is shown as a
flatterer who converts to Stoicism solely to appease Claudius' own ideology. The
"Pumpkinification" (Apocolocyntosis) to Graves thus becomes an unbearable work of
flattery to the loathsome Nero mocking a man that Seneca groveled to for years. The
historical novel Chariot of the Soul by Linda Proud features Seneca as tutor of the
young Togidubnus, son of King Verica of the Atrebates, during his ten-year stay in
Rome.[104]